User:Tjthomas67/sandbox

Henry Edward Bedford (1860-1932) was an American painter and sculptor who designed perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central Terminal; the four-faced clock on top of the information booth.

Born in Brooklyn, New York on March 3, 1860, Bedford received an extensive education in both New York and Europe. In 1876, at the age of sixteen, he attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea. Bedford also studied painting with James W. Whittaker and William L. Anderson in the U.K. and sculpture with William Ordway Partridge in Paris. His formal education included post-graduate work at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

The artist belonged to the prestigious Langham Sketching Club in London along with fellow painters Arthur Rackham and Sir John Tenniel. In addition, Bedford was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Academy of Arts. A reference book on Victorian artists reports Henry E. Bedford as actively painting in England in the early 1890s. In the United States, the New York artist was an exhibiting member of the renowned Salmagundi Club in Greenwich Village.

As a painter, Henry E. Bedford was best known for his studies of the Maine coast, where he maintained a summer house in Wiscasset for many years. The American Art Annual reported Bedford’s sudden demise on October 29, 1932 on the train ride from Maine to Brooklyn. The death notice stated that “… he was especially fond of reproducing the scenery of Maine, and his landscapes and marines won him much praise from critics…” Henry E. Bedford is listed in key art reference publications such as Who Was Who in American Art. He also can be found online on Askart.com and Artprice.com.

The Bedford family had a long history in the clock and watch industry. Alfred Bedford, Henry's father, was a "member of the original Tiffany and Company and the London representative of the Waltham Watch Company." Henry E. Bedford, along with his uncle, Edward T. Bedford, and his brother, Alfred C. Bedford, were executives of the Self Winding Clock Company. Henry E. Bedford reportedly retired from the company in the mid 1920s. His obituary in the American Art Annual stated that Henry Bedford designed "several other large clocks" in addition to the famous one in Grand Central Terminal.